Metia CEP New Presentation Technology Scores Full Marks with Year 4 Kids

Situation

Lakelands Public School is a community primary school located in the Illawarra region, south of Sydney. It has approximately 270 students aged between 5 and 12, who are taught in 11 classes.

In 1998, the school established acomputer lab. Over the next decade, technology made steady inroads into the teaching environment until in 2009 the Australian Government’s Digital Education Revolution program enabled the school to install 30 new PCs with internet connections.

“With the new equipment, we were just starting out on our digital journey,” says Melanie Hogan, Assistant Principal, Lakelands Public School. “We wanted our teachers to be happy teaching with new technologies – we wanted technology to become embedded in our lessons but in a way that made sense for everybody.”

One specific area where the school was anxious to use technology more was in comprehension exercises, which the school called ‘factual texts’.

“The point of factual texts is to teach pupils to assimilate lots of facts, and then make sense of it in reports,” says Karen Cartmill, Reading Recovery Support Teacher, Lakelands Public School, who helps with some of the school’s low-achieving pupils.

“Our problem was that we could set research projects for the pupils, say, on volcanoes or dinosaurs, and they would either be poor quality orwe wouldn’t get anything at all. Sometimes we would get something that was perfect – in which case we knew parents had played a role in completingthe task.”

Solution

Through an email from the New South Wales Department of Education, the school’s principal heard about Microsoft’s Partners in Learninginitiative. Designed to improve the way that technology is used in learning, the global initiative was specifically looking to foster school improvement and capacity building through its Australian Innovative Schools Program.

“We are seeking to work with schools that want to fundamentally improve the learning experience for students and we believe ICT can enable this,” says Sean Tierney, Innovative Schools Program Manager, Microsoft Australia. “Each school has different immediate objectives, and wework with them on a range of strategies to incorporate new and different technologies that can support these and help teachers provide pedagogically advanced learning experiences. “

“What brings schools and Microsoft together is the realisation that if we give kids the right challenges – coupled with the best, most suitable technologies – they are able to do things they couldn’t do before. They learn more effectively and to a level of complexity that was previously unattainable. Unleashing that potential is what the Innovative Schools Program is all about.”

In October 2009, the school’s principal travelled to Melbourne to attend a presentation on the Innovative Schools Program.

“He heard another principal endorsethe Innovative Schools Program,” says Hogan. “We put in an application to join the program and in December we were approved.”

Staff travelled to Perth forthe first of four Innovative Schools Forums focusing on building community and school transformation. During the technology session,staff saw anapplication calledPhoto Story, which collates photos with other digital content – such as sound and video – to make short, dynamic presentations and movies.

“It looked simple enough to use,” says Hogan. “We thought it would be perfect for our Year 4 students to do factual texts. They could record their own voices over movie clips to provide commentary, they could download pictures and edit them and they could also add music.”

Back in New South Wales, Hogan and Cartmillintroduced Photo Story to Year 4 during the second term of 2010. The class included a number of students who found traditional pen-and-paper project work difficult. However, the results were sufficiently impressive that these students subsequently gave two-minute presentations to the rest of the school.

Benefits

Although this was just a small-scale trial, staff at Lakelands Public School instantly noticed the benefits of using digital creative technology in the classroom: pupils were more engaged, relationships between pupils in different age groups improved, and students who had previously struggled gained confidence.

"The Microsoft Innovative Schools Program has enabled us to engage all stakeholders at our school,” says Ian Coogan, Principal, LakelandsPublic School. “It promotes ongoing staff development and helps evolve student capabilities in meaningful, interesting and diverse activities. This really enhances the culture of positive change at our school."

Greater enthusiasm and engagement

Discovering how to use Photo Story and then creating presentations with it has helped dramatically increase the level of engagement students show towards their projects.

“You know when your class is really on task because the students leave talking about what they have been doing,” says Cartmill.

“The interest generated by the projectsmy students created was immense and that really helps with motivation. Some of the pupils who are normally low achievers were able to show everyone how well they understood the topics.”

Improved relationships

Every member of the class had a chance to develop their team-building and cooperation skills because Photo Story was a completely fresh technology.

“None of the pupils had seen this technology before,” saysHogan. “The fact that they were all starting from the same point tended to empower pupils and give them confidence, especially students who wouldn’t naturally take the lead. What we found was that students rapidly became teachers, passing on particular techniques to other students.”

“We found Year 4 students teaching Year 6 students how to use Photo Story,” says Cartmill. “And if the students can start teaching other pupils how to do something it means they are really learningand using problem-solving strategies.”

Accelerated personal development

The school’s teaching staff state that one of the biggest benefitsof the Innovative Schools Program is in how the program has helped pupils grow.According to Hogan, self-reliance will help achieve one of the school’s fundamental objectives.

“As a school team, we have been supported through a fundamental rethink of the business of learning and are much more focused on preparing 21st century learners and global citizens,” she says.

“We want to create students who are independent. We want them to be creative problem solvers. Technology will be a huge part of their lives, and it will only get more complicated. If we can give them self confidence in how they use technology then we can help make them citizens – and exceptional ones.”

Partners in Learning

Partners in Learning is a global initiative that is dedicated to enabling access to technology, supporting leadership and building community in Australian schools. Since its inception in 2003,* Partners in Learning has furthered the interests of more than 192 million students and over 8.5 million teachers and policymakers in 114 countries, with a total worldwide investment of US$500 million. In Australia, we have already reached over 142,000 students, teachers and leaders and will invest A$15 million in cash and resources by 2013.

Innovative Schools Program

The Innovative Schools Program is a collaborative partnership between Microsoft Australia, Australian state governments and Australian schools
that explores how innovative schools can empower innovative learning. The program helps schools transform their learning in meaningful ways, by focusing on pedagogy, leadership, vision and culture. By supplementing the transformationwith cutting-edge technologies, the program helps prepare the next generation to become innovative thinkers, effective problem solvers and more proficient contributors to a global society.

*All statistics correct as of February 2011.